Tank You Very Much

Tanks in the streets of Boston

by Catherine Giordano

One of the best things about comedians like Bill Maher (and Jon Stewart, John Oliver
and Stephan Colbert) is that they can do exposés, tell us it’s comedy, and get people to watch it. Bill Maher did this country a public service on July 18, 2014, on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” episode #325, in his New Rules segment “Blitzkrieg Cops.” It was about local police outfitted like an invading army.
 

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Remember the tanks in the street after the Boston Marathon bombing. It reminded me of Hungary in 1956 and Tiananmen Square in 1989. But worse than tanks and grenade

launchers, are the almost constant stories of out-of-control police acting like the Gestapo in Nazi Germany.

 

Just recently, a man in New York was choked to death, a homeless man in Arizona was shot to death, and an old woman was repeatedly punched nearly to death in California.  None of these people were violent. In every case, the amount of force used was totally excessive. When I see these stories on TV, there is usually more than one cop present and involved. Talk about your jack-booted thugs and your Boko Haram—these police are like marauding gangs. 

 

I’d like to say enjoy the video, but the subject is much too disturbing for enjoyment.. so I’ll just say watch Maher do his New Rules bit.

 

 

 

Read my review and recap of the full show titled, ”Death Star.”



CLICK HERE

You also might want to hear John Oliver’s scathing report on prisons from the July 20, 2014 episode of “Last Week tonight” on HBO.

Read "The Rise of the Warrior Cop" for more information. The author, Radley Balko, was a guest on a previous show in November 2013. (See "Same Old, Same Old.")

8/13/14 Update: The tanks are in Fergusson MO now.  You can't say Maher didn't warn us.

 

Bill Maher’s Guests for July 18, 2014

 

Rev. Dr. William J Barber II: State NAACP President for North Carolina, Leader of the Moral Monday protests 

 

Jane Harmon: Former Congresswoman (D, CA), President and CEO of The Wilson Center 

 

Nate Silver: Statistician, editor-in-chief of ESPN's FiveThirtyEight blog, special correspondent for ABC News, author of The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — but Some Don't  

 

Jamie Weinstein: Political columnist and commentator, senior editor of The Daily Caller, a conservative news and opinion website, author of  The Lizard King: The Shocking Inside Account of Obama's True Intergalactic Ambitions by an Anonymous White House Staffer (with Will Rahn)  

 

GeorgeTakei:  actor, LGBT activist, author of several books including Oh Myyy!: There Goes The Internet, subject of a new documentary, To Be Takei 

 

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7/25/14 I have just learned inserting Youtube videos can be iffy. I discovered that "Blitzkrieg Cops video that I posted was gone from Yutube. I've inserted another one. I apologize if you tried and were unable to access it.